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Perfect Writer:1.00:CDP OEM/Lesson/LESSON3.MSS
Text file with Lesson 3 of Perfect Writer tutorial. File content Lesson 3 MOVING THE CURSOR As you have seen, characters and words are inserted or deleted at the position of the cursor, the blinking underline that indicates your location on the screen. In the previous lesson you used only the arrow keys to move the cursor. Perfect Writer provides a number of other commands for moving the cursor through your document quickly and easily. In this lesson we are going to examine these cursor commands. As before we are going to split the screen, bringing into the top window a sample document, while the bottom window will hold the instructions you will follow. to the next screen using the `PgDn' Key. At this time move the cursor to the middle of the screen and give the CREATE TWO WINDOWS Command: CONTROL---X 2 The screen is now divided into two windows with the cursor in the top window. From now on scroll your instructions in the bottom window using the following commands: View Next Screen (Other Window) Ctrl--PgDn View Previous Screen (Other Window) Ctrl--PgUp Call into the top window a short document titled "That Wonderful Writing Machine" (filename: `b:wonder'), using the FIND FILE Command: Control---X Control---F When Perfect Writer responds with the message: "File to Find: ", type the filename 'b:wonder', followed by a carriage return. (Remember that 'b:' indicates the drive on which this file is located.) Perfect Writer retrieves the file 'wonder.mss' from disk, placing it in the top window. The screen is now displaying two separate documents, a sample text in the top window, and the instructions of this lesson in the bottom window. Since the sample document is more than one paragraph long, you may want to take a few moments to scroll through it using the PgDn and PgUp Function Keys. When you have finished return to the top of the text. CURSOR CONTROL KEYS In the last lesson you learned how to move the cursor using the `arrow keys' located on the number keypad of your keyboard. Up Arrow ^ | Left Arrow <------ ------> Right Arrow | v Down Arrow While these arrow keys are adequate for what they do, they sometimes move more slowly than you would like, especially if you must move the cursor any great distance. Two commands that move the cursor across a line one word at a time are: FORWARD WORD Escape. . .F BACKWARD WORD Escape. . .B Notice that the command letters reflect the action that is being performed, 'F' for forward, 'B' for backward. Practice moving the cursor back and forth across the line which it occupies using these commands. (Remember: the Escape Key is typed and released, followed by the character which completes the command.) Two commands that will move the cursor to the beginning or end of the current LINE are: BEGINNING OF LINE Control---A `Ctrl---(Left Arrow)' END OF LINE Control---E `Ctrl---(Right Arrow)' Here, 'E' for 'end' is obvious; 'A' for 'beginning' is a little more subtle. Think of 'A' as the first character in the alphabet. This will help you remember that the command moves the cursor to the first character in the line! Practice moving back and forth from the beginning to the end of a line using these two commands. Two corresponding Escape Key commands move the cursor to the beginning and end of the current SENTENCE: BEGINNING OF SENTENCE Escape. . .A END OF SENTENCE Escape. . .E Practice moving the cursor to the ends and beginnings of current sentences. Notice that commas, colons, and semi-colons are ignored. These commands recognize only periods, question marks, and exclamation points as the legitimate ends of sentences. Two commands which will move you back and forth through your text almost as quickly as the screen commands are: END OF PARAGRAPH: Escape. . .N BEGINNING OF PARAGRAPH Escape. . .P These commands move the cursor to the first or last character just preceding or following the line break that separates two paragraphs. The largest cursor movement is accomplished by two dedicated keys, which will instantly move the cursor from anywhere in a document to the beginning or end of that document, no matter how long the document may be. These are: `Home' Key `End' Key These keys are located on your number keypad. `Home' will take you to the very beginning of your document, `End' to the very last character. Practice moving the cursor back and forth from the beginning to the end of the sample text. SWITCHING THE MARK Suppose that while editing somewhere in the middle of a long document you need to see the beginning or end of that document, afterwards RETURNING to the place where you were editing. How can you return to your place in the text without having to search? Perfect Writer provides a command called the SWITCH CURSOR & MARK Command: Control---X Control---X which allows you to do this quickly and easily. This is how it works: Move the cursor to the fifth paragraph in the sample text, which begins with the words "In the late 1970's. . . ." With the cursor anywhere in this paragraph, type the MARK SET Command: Escape. . . That is, type the Escape key followed by the 'space bar'. Perfect Writer responds with the message in the Echo Line: "Mark Set" An invisible mark has been set at the present position of the cursor (the same mark which we used in marking the boundaries of 'regions' to be deleted in Lesson 2. Here the mark is used to 'remember' the location where you are working.) Now move the cursor to the beginning or end of the document using the PgDn, PgUp, Home, or End Function Keys. To move the cursor back to its original position in the fifth paragraph type the SWITCH CURSOR & MARK Command: Control--X Control--X Perfect Writer instantly switches the positions of the cursor and the mark. The mark is now located at the beginning (or end) of the document, and the cursor at its original position. This command can be used whenever the cursor must be moved a considerable distance and then returned to its original location. REFRESHING THE SCREEN Often, when moving the cursor, you will end up near the top or bottom edge of the screen, particularly when using those cursor commands which move only a single character, word, line, or sentence at a time. Having to work at or near a top or bottom margin is inconvenient, because you cannot see the surrounding text. Perfect Writer provides a command that 'refreshes' the screen--redraws it such that the line the cursor is occupying is centered in the middle of the screen. It is: CENTER TEXT Command: Control---L Practice centering the text. Move the cursor to a line near the bottom of the top window, afterwards typing the CENTER TEXT Command: Control---L The screen should be completely erased and redrawn with the cursor now positioned in the center of the top window. At this time switch the cursor to the bottom window using the OTHER WINDOW Command: Control--X o (the letter 'o') Create one window using the CREATE ONE WINDOW Command: Control---X 1 The window holding these instructions becomes the only window on the screen. REVIEW This completes the lesson on Moving the Cursor. In this lesson you have learned many new cursor control commands, including: FORWARD WORD Escape. . .F BACKWARD WORD Escape. . .B BEGINNING OF LINE Control---A `Ctrl--Left Arrow Key' END OF LINE Control---E `Ctrl--Right Arrow Key' BEGINNING OF SENTENCE Escape. . .A END OF SENTENCE Escape. . .E END OF PARAGRAPH Escape. . .N BEGINNING OF PARAGRAPH Escape. . .P END OF DOCUMENT `End' Key BEGINNING OF DOCUMENT `Home' Key SET MARK Escape. . . SWITCH CURSOR & MARK Control---X Control---X CENTER TEXT Control---L If you want to continue on to Lesson # 4 which covers 'Searching', type the READ FILE Command: Control---X Control---R [ IMPORTANT: Should Perfect Writer respond with the message: "Discard modifications you have made?" Answer 'Yes' ! ] When Perfect Writer responds with the message "File to Read: ", type the file name "b:lesson4", followed by a carriage return. Perfect Writer retrieves Lesson 4 from disk and displays it to the screen, overwriting this text, ready for you to continue. If you do not want to continue with the lessons at this time, type the QUIT Command: Control--X Control---C Should Perfect Writer respond with the message: "Ignore Changes This Session?", answer 'Yes' !! Perfect Writer returns you to its Main Menu, from which you may exit to your operating system. End of Lesson 3�